Lead Pharmacist - Clinical Commissioning and Medicines Value

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust; Bath; On-site; GBP 67,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Leadership development

System-wide optimisation projects

Research and teaching opportunities

Job summary

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust in Bath seeks an experienced Lead Pharmacist for Clinical Commissioning and Medicines Value to join our senior pharmacy leadership team. You will provide expert leadership for high-cost drugs, medicines optimisation, formulary management, and commissioning processes across the Trust.

You will lead on implementation for High Cost Drugs, NICE guidance and medicines activity data, and work with commissioners to deliver efficiency savings.

Qualifications

• GPHC registered and hospital pharmacy experience.
• Involvement in medicines commissioning, formulary management, or high-cost drug processes.
• Proven leadership and management capability; supervising staff and delivering improvement projects.
• Strong understanding of national medicines policy and NICE guidance.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional expertise to ensure best patient outcomes and value for money for medicines.
• Lead on implementation for High Cost Drugs, NICE TAs, and medicines activity data with commissioners to deliver efficiency savings.
• Oversee training for operational staff and engage in service evaluation and business planning.
• Support teaching activities and undertake annual staff appraisals.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Education

GPHC Registration

Job description

Employer Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal United Hospitals Bath Town Bath Salary £66,582 - £77,368 PA Salary period Yearly Closing 16/09/2026 23:59

Lead Pharmacist - Clinical Commissioning and Medicines Value

Band 8b

Job overview

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Lead Pharmacist for Clinical Commissioning and Medicines Value to join our senior pharmacy leadership team. This is a key role providing expert leadership for high-cost drugs, medicines optimisation, formulary management, and commissioning processes across the Trust.

Our Culture

We are committed to providing a compassionate and inclusive working environment. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are dedicated to supporting staff wellbeing, professional growth and a sense of belonging.
We want all staff to feel valued, treated fairly, and supported to reach their full potential.

Flexible Working

We encourage applications from individuals seeking a range of flexible working options, including part-time hours, job-share, compressed hours, or flexible start and finish times. We are happy to discuss how flexibility can work for you and the service at interview.

What we offer

• Supportive senior pharmacy team
• Opportunities for leadership development
• Involvement in system-wide optimisation projects
• Participation in research, QI and teaching
• A culture that prioritises wellbeing, teamwork and continuous improvement

Main duties of the job

About You

You should have:

• Strong understanding of medicines commissioning, HCD processes and funding flows
• Experience in formulary management and implementation of NICE guidance
• Excellent communication, negotiation and leadership skills
• The ability to influence and work effectively with senior clinical and managerial colleagues
• A postgraduate clinical pharmacy qualification or equivalent experience

You will be committed to high-quality patient care, medicines value, and inclusive leadership.

• Responsible for providing professional expertise to the Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS England and RUH to ensure the best possible patient outcomes and value for money for the NHS from medicines.
• To lead on implementation for High Cost Drugs, NICE TAs and medicines activity data by working with commissioners to develop and deliver efficiency savings plans on the High Cost Drugs (HCD) budgets.
• Manage the process for approval, appropriate use and audit of High Cost Drugs associated with Payment By Results (PBR) excluded medicines commissioned by BSW IC
• Manage related training provision to all operational staff within the facility.
• Actively engage in service evaluation and business planning with the Pharmacy Senior Management Team
• Support training and teaching activities of the Pharmacy Department
• Line manage and undertake the annual appraisal of allocated staff

Working for our organisation

We are proud to be part of BSW Hospitals Group - a formal partnership between the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. With a combined workforce of over 17, 600 colleagues, and budget of 1.6 billion the Group is united by a common purpose to deliver the best possible care to over 1 million people.

We are creating a health and care system that works with the people we care for, reducing the differences people currently face in access, experience and outcomes, improving the experience of our colleagues and tackling shared challenges like sustainability and finances. Every improvement we make across our Group will be guided by what creates the greatest benefit for our colleagues, our patients, our communities and our partners.

By working together, we make a real difference for our patients, each other, and our community. Every role matters in delivering the exceptional, person-centred care we’re proud of.

We’re committed to a compassionate, inclusive culture where kindness is championed, differences are valued, and diversity makes us stronger.

We want to support you to thrive, taking your career to its full potential. We prioritise staff wellbeing – and yes, we even have a pool!

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please find attached to the vacancy a detailed person specification and job description for further information about this role.

Person specification

Qualifications

• GPHC Registered
• Significant post-registration hospital pharmacy experience, including involvement in medicines commissioning, formulary management, or high-cost drug processes.
• Proven leadership and management capability, including supervising pharmacists/technicians, contributing to service development, and delivering quality improvement or change projects.
• Strong understanding of national medicines policy, NICE guidance processes, and the ability to interpret and apply commissioning requirements to ensure safe, effective, and cost-efficient use of medicines.

Please note - Due to recent changes in UK immigration and visa rules applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK may not be considered unless an alternative right to work solution can be provided. Candidates requiring sponsorship (or will need sponsorship at the end of a current visa e.g. those with graduate visa's) should reviewthe eligibility criteria on the gov.uk website before applying: Prove your right to work to an employer: Overview - GOV.UK

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Name Uzoma Ibechukwu Job title Director of Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Email address [emailprotected] Additional information

We welcome informal discussions about the role. Please contact:

• Jessica Taylor, Pharmacy Business Manager – [emailprotected]
• Uzo Ibechukwu, Director of Pharmacy & Medicines Optimisation – [emailprotected]